Vanity HQ Website Pulls the Plug

After serving the US Amateur Radio community for 14 years Mike Carroll, N4MC, has shut down his Vanity HQ website.

“Vanity HQ is closed,” now greets visitors to the site. “It’s been a good 14 years. Thank you everyone for participating, sending bug reports and comments, and I especially thank all the Elmer volunteers who have helped me over the years. It is time for me to move on. Regards to all.”

The site has had its ups and downs over its lifetime. Carroll made a similar announcement in 2004, citing “a shift in my priorities,” but the site eventually remained open. Over the years Vanity HQ often was the first stop for radio amateurs seeking a vanity call sign. Among other information, it provided a list of recently issued vanity call signs as well as available call signs and active vanity call sign applications.

In 2008, the ARRL Board okayed a partnership with the Vanity HQ site to have QST Silent Key listings included in the Vanity HQ history project in an electronically searchable format.

After Carroll announced he was shutting down in 2004, Eldon Lewis, K7LS, inaugurated his RadioQTH website, which offers essentially the same information Vanity HQ did.